go belly upinformal if a business or company goes belly up, it stops operating because it cannot pay its debts 破产;倒闭go belly up• Tim's business went belly up in 1993.• Lehman Brothers eventually went belly up.• Two small boys trapped a crab, repeatedly poking it with a stick until it went belly up and played dead.• Cooke won a settlement so big that the label went belly up.
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